Bug 38933 – Broadcom 4400 (b44) driver starts and stops repeatedly

• Product: Gentoo Linux
• Status: RESOLVED INVALID

[Description Gregg Casillo 2004-01-21 09:37:22 UTC]

I am suffering the symptoms mentioned in this post on the forums:
http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?t=125937&highlight=b44

My dmesg looks similar:
b44: eth0: Link is down.
b44: eth0: Link is up at 100 Mbps, full duplex.
b44: eth0: Flow control is on for TX and on for RX.
b44: eth0: Link is down.
b44: eth0: Link is up at 100 Mbps, full duplex.
b44: eth0: Flow control is on for TX and on for RX.
b44: eth0: Link is down.
b44: eth0: Link is up at 100 Mbps, full duplex.
b44: eth0: Flow control is on for TX and on for RX.
b44: eth0: Link is down.
b44: eth0: Link is up at 100 Mbps, full duplex.
b44: eth0: Flow control is on for TX and on for RX.
b44: eth0: Link is down.
b44: eth0: Link is up at 100 Mbps, full duplex.
b44: eth0: Flow control is on for TX and on for RX

I am running 2.4.22-gentoo-r5 and do not see a listing for the bcm4400 (non-experimental) driver in my kernel configuration. Otherwise, I would install it as prescribed in the post. I tried the prescribed module options to no avail; my b44 driver will not load with them. Upgrading to a 2.6 kernel is not an option as my ivtv driver for my PVR-350 is still dependent on a 2.4 kernel.

I am trying to transfer some large DV files from one machine to this one with the b44 driver and am getting 2MB/sec. on average because the link keeps dropping.

I tried disabling ACPI based on a report I found while Googling:
http://www.spinics.net/lists/kernel/msg232446.html

No luck. I suffer the same problem with ACPI disabled.

Reproducible: Always
Steps to Reproduce:
1.
2.
3.

[Comment 1 Bob Johnson (RETIRED) 2004-01-21 13:53:08 UTC]

Do you have apic enabled? (notice this isnt acpi)

[Comment 2 Gregg Casillo 2004-01-21 17:23:35 UTC]

I tried booting with the 1.4 LiveCD and 11-19-2003 Knoppix CD with APIC turned off and no go. But get this...

I find the bcm4400 driver from www.broadcom.com, make, make install it, and modprobe it. Still nothing. Only now, the lights are dark. Boot with either CD and both report, "bcm4400: eth0 NIC Link is down."

Before I went on this fucking sojourn today, the onboard ethernet controller worked fine with the exception mentioned initially in this bug. Since the attempt with the bcm4400 driver (instead of b44) and the options mentioned in that forum post, it appears to be 100% hosed now.

Morale of the story: avoid Broadcom 4400 NICs like the stinking plague. Ironic considering I have an onboard Tigon3 ethernet controller, also made by Broadcom, on my other PC, and it is super-solid.

Another day wasted. Forgive the diatribe, but this is one of the persisting problems I've had trying to get several boxes working for various tasks with Gentoo. The last two months have been excrutiating.

[Comment 3 Gregg Casillo 2004-04-02 20:08:33 UTC]

Reinstalled Gentoo from scratch a while back on the machine in question. Everything seems be fine now. Excuse my diatribe. I was in a funk and couldn't get _anything_ to work for about a two week period.

[Comment 4 Willem Hendriks 2004-04-22 07:55:12 UTC]

I had the same problem:

gentoo-dev-sources.2.6.5-r1 : Problem! Netwrok UP/DOWN/UP...

I did one step back to 2.6.3 and,

gentoo-dev-sourves.2.6.3: No Problems at all...

Maybe it got something to do with a patch lately installed:

http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.6/ChangeLog-2.6.5
(search for b44)